Remove Spamhaus virus (Moneypak Scam)

The Spamhaus Moneypak Ransomware is a computer virus, which will display a bogus notification that pretends to be from Spamhaus XBL Advisory, and states that your computer has been blocked due to it being involved with the distribution of pornographic material, SPAM, copyrighted content and malware.

The Spamhaus virus will lock you out of your computer and applications, so whenever you’ll try to log on into your Windows operating system or Safe Mode with Networking, it will display instead a lock screen asking you to pay a non existing fine of $300 in the form of a MoneyPak code.
Furthermore, to make this alert seem more authentic, this virus also has the ability to access your installed webcam, so that the bogus Spamhaus notification shows what is happening in the room.

The Spamhaus virus locks the computer and, depending on the user’s current location, displays a localized webpage that covers the entire desktop of the infected computer and demands payment for the supposed possession of illicit material.

Cyber criminals often updated the design of this lock screen, however you should always keep in mind that the Spamhaus will never lock down your computer or monitor your online activities.
The message displayed by the threat can be localized depending on the user’s location, with text written in the appropriate language.

The Spamhaus Project
XBL Advisory
Ref: XBL198972
IP address: xx.xx.xx.xx
Tracking time: 1 w 10 h 03 m
Responsible agent: David C. Krehnke
Address: 18 Avenue Louis Casai CH-1209 Geneva Switzerland

You have 48 hours left to enter your payment.

You have lost control over your computer. Your system and all your files has been blocked and encrypted because you were spreading the Malware (viruses, trojans, worms).
You are breaking numerous International and USA laws.
Actions made by your computer backed up under United States law USA Patriot ACT
What exactly is The Patriot Act?
The Patriot Act is short for The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001.
We have the right backed by law:
Sec. 201. Authority to intercept wire, oral, and electronic communications relating to terrorism.
Sec. 202. Authority to intercept wire, oral, and electronic communications relating to computer fraud and abuse offenses.
Sec. 209. Seizure of voice-mail messages pursuant to warrants.
Sec. 217. Interception of computer trespasser communications.
With the support of the federal Bureau investigation department on cybercrime and the Supreme court of the United States of America. We have the legal right to scan and intercept any information going in and out of your computers.

You IP address (xx.xx.xx.xx) was identified and isolated by our organization in connection with a complaint to the involvement of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack such organizations: NASDAQ and BATSS stock exchange markets and WIKILEAKS.ORG website. Such attacks caused $15 billions in damage. In order to isolate this infected files we have blocked your access to the outside world and your IP address was listed in our XBL Block List. You can not use the internet or any of your programs.

You have a chance to settle this issue right now before we contact the proper authorities. Within 48 hours, you can pay a fine of $ 300. All your files will be decrypted, and access to the computer will be granted, a claim for compensation from affected from affected companies will be removed and your IP (xx.xx.xx.xx) address will be restored to good standings with XBL Block List.

If you don’t pay a penalty within the next 48 hours, local authorities and secret service will be contacted, and most likely it will result in your arrest. You can and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law in order to recover our losses. Do not take a chance to be convicted as a felon.

Our spamhaus agent has conducted a full check of your system and found following violations:

You are a distributor of pornography and porno materials, regularly watch porno sites with child pornography and zoophilia.
You possess unlicensed software and pirate audio and video records.

This infection will also scan your computer for files that end with the .ddrw ,.pptm ,.dotm ,.xltx ,.text ,.docm ,.djvu ,.potx ,.jpeg ,.pptx ,.sldm ,.xlsm ,.sldx ,.xlsb ,.ppam ,.xlsx ,.ppsm ,.ppsx ,.docx ,.odp ,.eml ,.ods ,.dot ,.php ,.xla ,.pas ,.gif ,.mpg ,.ppt ,.bkf ,.sda ,.mdf ,.ico ,.dwg ,.mbx ,.sfx ,.mdb ,.zip ,.xlt extensions and then encrypt them. When the ransomware encrypts a file it will rename it as a HTML file and then embed the encrypted file inside of it. If you then attempt to launch any of these encrypted files, you will be taken to a web page, which is currently at http://xblblock.com, that prompts you to pay the ransom in the form of a MoneyPak voucher.
At this time there is no decryptor for the files that have been encrypted by this malware. This means that you will need to restore from a backup or attempt to restore from a previous version using Windows. To restore from a previous version when there is no backup available, please rename the file to its original filename. Then right-click on it and select Properties. When the Properties window opens, click on the Previous Versions tab. You will now be shown a screen screen that lists any previous versions you may have of this file. If you find any, backup the existing encrypted file and then restore the previous version. Windows will then restore the older file and overwrite the encrypted one.

The Spamhaus lock screen is a scam, and you should ignore any alerts that this malicious software might generate.
Under no circumstance should you send any  MoneyPak codes to these cyber criminals, and if you have, you can  should request a refund, stating that you are the victim of a computer virus and scam.

Spamhaus lock screen – Virus Removal Guide

STEP 1: Remove Spamhaus lock screen from your computer

Spamhaus virus has modified your Windows registry and added its malicious files to run at start-up, so whenever you’re trying to boot your computer it will launch instead its bogus notification.To remove these malicious changes, we can use any of the below methods:

Method 1: Start your computer in Safe Mode with Networking and scan for malware

Some variants of Spamhaus virus will allow the users to start the infected computer in Safe Mode with Networking without displaying the bogus lock screen. In this first method, we will try to start the computer in Safe Mode with Networking and then scan for malware to remove the malicious files.

1. Remove all floppy disks, CDs, and DVDs from your computer, and then restart your computer.
2. Press and hold the F8 key as your computer restarts.Please keep in mind that you need to press the F8 key before the Windows start-up logo appears.
   Note: With some computers, if you press and hold a key as the computer is booting you will get a stuck key message. If this occurs, instead of pressing and holding the “F8 key”, tap the “F8 key” continuously until you get the Advanced Boot Options screen.
3. On the Advanced Boot Options screen, use the arrow keys to highlight Safe Mode with Networking , and then press ENTER.
   
4. If your computer has started in Safe Mode with Networking, you’ll need to perform a system scan (as seen on STEP 2) with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and HitmanPro to remove the malicious files from your machine.

IF the Spamhaus virus didn’t allow you to start the computer in Safe Mode with Networking,you’ll need to follow Method 2 to get rid of its lock screen.

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Method 2: Restore Windows to a previous state using System Restore

System Restore can return your computer system files and programs to a time when everything was working fine, so we will try to use this Windows feature to get rid of Spamhaus  lock screen.

1. Restart your computer, and then press and hold F8 during the initial startup to start your computer in safe mode with a Command prompt.
   Note: With some computers, if you press and hold a key as the computer is booting you will get a stuck key message. If this occurs, instead of pressing and holding the “F8 key”, tap the “F8 key” continuously until you get the Advanced Boot Options screen.
2. Use the arrow keys to select the Safe mode with a Command prompt option.
   
3. At the command prompt, type cd restore, and then press ENTER.
   Next,we will type rstrui.exe , and then press ENTER.Alternatively, if you are using Windows Vista, 7 and 8, you can just type : C:\windows\system32\rstrui.exe , and press ENTER.
   If you are using Windows XP, you will need to type C:\windows\system32\restore\rstrui.exe, and then press ENTER.
   
4. The System Restore utility will start, and you’ll need to select a restore point previous to this infection.
   
5. After System Restore has completed its task, you should be able to boot in Windows normal mode, and perform a system scan (as seen on STEP 2) with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and HitmanPro to remove the malicious files from your machine.

IF the Spamhaus  virus didn’t allow you to restore your computer to a previous point, you’ll need to follow Method 3 to get rid of its screen lock.

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Method 3: Remove Spamhaus  lock screen with msconfig utility

When your computer was infected with the Spamhaus virus, this trojan has set a its malicious files to start whenever your computer is booting. IF you didn’t have a restore point, we can use msconfig to remove it’s malicious start-up entry.

1. While your computer is in Safe Mode with Command Prompt, type msconfig to start the Windows System Configuration utility.
   
2. Click on the Startup tab, then search for any suspicious or unknonw entries (random numbers or letters, ctfmon.exe, and other suspicious or unknown entries), and unckech them from startup, then click on OK.
   This will stop the Spamhaus virus from starting with Windows, however it won’t remove the malicious files from your computer.
   
3. Type shutdown /r in the command prompt to restart your computer, then  perform a scan with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and HitmanPro as seen on STEP 2.

IF the Spamhaus virus didn’t allow you to start the computer in Safe Mode with Command Prompt you’ll need to follow Method 4 to get rid of its screen lock.

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Method 4: Remove Spamhaus virus with HitmanPro Kickstart

IF you couldn’t boot into Safe Mode with Command Prompt or didn’t have a System Restore point on your machine, we can use HitmanPro Kickstart to bypass this infection, and access your computer to scan it for malware.

1. We will need to create a HitmanPro Kickstart USB flash drive,so while you are using a “clean” (non-infected) computer, download HitmanPro from the below link.
   HITMANPRO DOWNLOAD LINK (This link will open a download page in a new window from where you can download HitmanPro)
2. Insert your USB flash drive into your computer and follow the instructions from the below video:
   
3. After you have create the HitmanPro Kickstart USB flash drive, you can insert this USB drive into the infected machine and start your computer.
4. Once the computer starts, repeatedly tap the F11 key (on some machines its F10 or F2),which should bring up the Boot Menu, from there you can select to boot from your USB.
   Next,you’ll need to perform a system scan with HitmanPro as see in the below video:
   
5. After HitmanPro Kickstart has completed its task,you should be able to boot in Windows normal mode,from there you’ll need to perform a system scan (as seen on STEP 2) with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and HitmanPro to remove the malicious files from your machine.

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STEP 2: Remove Spamhaus malicious files from your computer

Run a computer scan with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free

1. You can download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free from the below link,then double click on it to install this program.
   MALWAREBYTES ANTI-MALWARE DOWNLOAD LINK(This link will open a download page in a new window from where you can download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free)
2. When the installation begins, keep following the prompts in order to continue with the setup process.
   DO NOT make any changes to default settings and when the program has finished installing, make sure you leave both the Update Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware and Launch Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware checked,then click on the Finish button.
   
3. On the Scanner tab,select Perform quick scan and then click on the Scan button to start scanning your computer.
   
4. Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware will now start scanning your computer for Spamhaus virus as shown below.
   
5. When the Malwarebytes scan will be completed,click on Show Result.
   
6. You will now be presented with a screen showing you the malware infections that Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware has detected.Please note that the infections found may be different than what is shown in the image.Make sure that everything is Checked (ticked) and click on the Remove Selected button.
   
7. After your computer will restart in Normal mode, open Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and perform a Full System scan to verify that there are no remaining threats

Run a computer scan with HitmanPro

1. Download HitmanPro from the below link,then double click on it to start this program.
   HITMANPRO DOWNLOAD LINK (This link will open a new web page from where you can download HitmanPro)
   IF you are experiencing problems while trying to start HitmanPro, you can use the Force Breach mode.To start HitmanPro in Force Breach mode, hold down the left CTRL-key when you start HitmanPro and all non-essential processes are terminated, including the malware process. (How to start HitmanPro in Force Breach mode – Video)
2. HitmanPro will start and you’ll need to follow the prompts (by clicking on the Next button) to start a system scan with this program.
   
   
3. HitmanPro will start scanning your computer for Spamhaus  malicious files as seen in the image below.
   
4. Once the scan is complete,you’ll see a screen which will display all the infected files that this utility has detected, and you’ll need to click on Next to remove these malicious files.
   
5. Click Activate free license to start the free 30 days trial and remove all the malicious files from your computer.
   

If you are still experiencing problems while trying to remove Spamhaus  virus from your machine, please start a new thread in our Malware Removal Assistance forum.